


Treacherous Love

by Mercyisnotasignofweakness



Series: Skystar Smut Exchange 2021 [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Blow Jobs, Bottom Starscream, Cunnilingus, Enemies to Lovers, Face-Fucking, Face-Sitting, Gentle Sex, M/M, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Post-War, Romance, Size Difference, Size Kink, Skyfire's secret strength fetish, Sticky Sexual Interfacing (Transformers), Top Skyfire, Valve Fingering (Transformers), Valve Oral (Transformers)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-22 10:20:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30037185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercyisnotasignofweakness/pseuds/Mercyisnotasignofweakness
Summary: Starscream glances at him over his shoulder. “Things change.I changed.”“I know you did. I’m not saying I don’t, but it’s just…” Skyfire sighs again, not sure how to phrase it without sounding like he’s demanding Starscream to become someone he isn’t anymore.He lets his optics roam Starscream’s face, noting all the ways he’s different and the few ways he’s not. So much has changed. How is Skyfire ever going to catch up? Will he ever get the chance to or is it just too late? Is he too late?“Hard,” he finishes weakly.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A misunderstanding nearly ruins a reunion Skyfire has desperately longed for ever since he was freed from the ice. Starscream is not the seeker he remembers leaving behind 4 million years ago and this stolen moment they are sharing is already so very fragile. The civil war is over, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything left to fight for.
Relationships: Jetfire | Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers)
Series: Skystar Smut Exchange 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211417
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Treacherous Love

**Author's Note:**

> This was technically also written for the Skystar Smut Exchange, but due to a change of plans I wrote a different fic for my giftee for the exchange. Since I had already written 5000 words of _this_ version of it before that happened and I liked it so much, I decided to finish it and post it at the same time as the other one as a gift for the fandom and myself (: 
> 
> If you haven't read that one, you can find it here: **[By My Side](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29985060)**
> 
> **NOTE: This is STICKY SMUT. Aka dickening will happen. There be robo-dicks here.** xD OK I think that's a good enough warning.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> \- Mercy
> 
> PS. My first language isn't english and altho this story is betaed you might still find mistakes. My apologies.

_“Holding onto you  
Is the only place I can breathe  
Something beautiful, something I'll  
Never wanna leave  
Make this bed a home  
So you feel me whenever I'm gone  
Something safe, something true  
So you're never alone  
  
I'm gonna take us to the edge of the earth  
Until we reach the sun  
As we're burning through all this hurt  
We'll be forever young”_

_-[“Louder than thunder” ](https://open.spotify.com/track/4EzeXrA907fTxr6JaO737s?si=L39Atu_kS9Wm8Kz0n5_cCg)_ [by Ben Hazlewood](https://open.spotify.com/track/4EzeXrA907fTxr6JaO737s?si=L39Atu_kS9Wm8Kz0n5_cCg)

* * *

So much has changed during millions of years of war and frozen isolation. And yet, when Skyfire kneels in front of the berth Starscream has made his own and tries to coax the seeker’s glossy red panels open in the same way he used to, Skyfire feels like no time has passed at all. He strokes careful, big digits along the edges of a small cockpit and smiles to himself when his lover’s frame twitches under his touch.

He kisses the inside of a thigh first and then the heated array, savoring the moment and the feeling of having the mech he loves so close. He feels so lucky. He never thought he would be allowed to be this close to Starscream again but here they are. Skyfire caresses one hip and kisses the flat planes of the seeker’s belly, smiling into the smooth metal when he feels Starscream shift impatiently under his lips.

Better not keep him waiting for too long, Skyfire thinks.

It takes a series of soft, patient kisses and teasing licks all around Starscream’s modesty panel before it slides up with a little _snick._ Skyfire’s spark roars joyfully when it does, feeling his own optics go wide like he hadn’t expected it to actually happen. He immediately gets to work to prove himself worthy of the privilege, not willing to lose out on tasting Starscream again by allowing him time to doubt the decision.

He runs his glossa over the edges of Starscream’s newly exposed valve and white thighs clamp tightly around his helm in reaction. It makes him smile again. He doesn’t mind the slightly muffled sound or the pressure that scrapes against his audials when he repeats the slow lick over the outer, soft silicone lips. He goes slow and eases Starscream into the feeling, Skyfire’s glossa subtly poking at sensitive outer nodes in the way that used to earn him annoyed smacks to the helm and demands to get on with it.

He remembers the last time they were like this, frames close and sparks beating as one. The feeling of _rightness_ , of _belonging_ is the same as it was before, when they had both been young and the universe hadn’t been tainted by Cybertron’s civil war. Skyfire finally relents to the quiet tremble of Starscream’s thighs framing his helm and the annoyed hum of his turbines and dips his glossa in between the wet lips of his valve to steal his first real taste of him in far too long. He feels the vibrating hum of his seeker’s systems hitching when he traces the edge of his opening and lets a hot exvent brush over the sensitive metal mesh, just to tease him.

It has already been half a lifetime ago since they were like this last but to Skyfire it feels like it was just yesterday. To him, falling back into Starscream’s orbit and giving himself over to the seeker’s whims and bringing him pleasure feels as easy to him as cycling air. It feels natural, _good_. He _missed_ this, and he missed Starscream.

It feels like Skyfire has been starving for him, like every second not spent at his side has manifested into a hunger he can barely control. Skyfire licks into him again to satiate that hunger, paying particular attention to the line of external nodes lining the quivering little entrance he’s exploring. He sweeps his glossa over the small, rounded surfaces and moans at the gentle flicker of charge sparking between them and his mouth. There’s a hitch in Starscream’s venting, usually a good sign that he’s enjoying himself, but… Skyfire can’t help but feel something is _off._

He tells himself its old paranoia rearing its helm again and decides to ignore it. He has Starscream spread out before him and it’d be a waste to not enjoy that to its fullest.

Years of previous experience has taught him just how to make the seeker sing. Very, very gently he scrapes his blunted dentae over the larger front node beating with charge, flattening his glossa to drag it over the smaller ones he passes on the way. His glossa is so big it covers most of the valve, but Starscream used to tell him he loved that. Loved how much bigger Skyfire was than him, how easily Skyfire’s frame could cover his and how he loved feeling Skyfire’s heavy weight press him into the berth when they were intimate. His size has always made Skyfire scared of accidentally hurting him, but Starscream had never shown any sign of being afraid. Quite opposite in fact. There was one trick in particular that the seeker enjoyed immensely and Skyfire wants to use it now to make him scream his name.

He presses against the tightness of Starscream’s entrance with the tip of his glossa, teasing Starscream with the idea of being filled. After a few moments he flattens it and digs into the folds carefully, letting his glossa’s size gently start stretching Starscream’s first ring of calipers. He keeps the pressure against the nodes even and tightens his servos around Starscream’s thighs in preparation for the thrashing that usually follows a move like that.

When it doesn’t come, Skyfire hesitates.

He glances up. Starscream is looking off to the side, his optics shuttered. He has a servo pressed against his mouth, the other still busy petting Skyfire’s helm.

Curious, Skyfire repeats what he did before. He angles his glossa carefully this time to be sure he’ll press against the little cluster of nodes just inside Starscream’s opening. It’s one of the Starscream’s favorite spots, one that should have him spitting curses and begging to be spiked within seconds. He had directed Skyfire to the nodes himself one of the first times they fell into berth with each other. Skyfire once had Starscream overloading on his glossa alone by abusing that spot and even though he has been rebuilt, Starscream’s protoform should have remained the same unless he specifically had his array rebuilt too.

Skyfire knows he hasn’t because he’s looking right at it now. Starscream’s array is exactly as he remembers it being.

He slips his servos under Starscream’s aft and lifts it before he repeats the maneuver again. First a sharp hit of stimulation from his dentae and then he presses his glossa in, teasing Starscream with the fullness he’ll experience later.

Skyfire watches him, but his expression barely changes, his servo not moving from his mouth. There’s a twitch of Starscream’s hips and a subtle roaring of his fans, but he remains completely quiet through it all.

Skyfire’s spark sinks deep into his chassis.

A little squeak escapes the seeker when Skyfire releases his hips suddenly and lowers him to the berth again. He wipes his mouth with the back of a servo and tries to calm the rapid, panicked beating of his spark. His processor is already busy running too many calculations at once, trying to figure out where he misinterpreted Starscream’s intentions. He had been so _sure_. It was Starscream who’d-

“Why did you stop?!” Starscream snaps at him angrily as soon as it’s clear Skyfire isn’t just readjusting himself. He sits up and aims an angry glare at Skyfire, optics once again blazing with red fire. Skyfire glances at his wings instead though, notes how they dip low on his back and how they shake against his shoulders.

Skyfire curses at himself. How could he have missed this?

“You don’t want this,” he answers, his own wings lowering too. He shifts backwards to separate them, not willing to touch the other for even a second longer. He’s disgusted with himself for completely missing how little Starscream was into the idea of interfacing with him.

 _“Excuse me?”_ Starscream says. He slaps away Skyfire’s servo when he tries to pull the blankets up to give him a little bit of modesty for the conversation. He clearly doesn’t care about how exposed he still is or how his spike bobs lewdly when he moves to his knees so he can crawl over and crowd into Skyfire’s personal space.

Skyfire watches him in confusion, not sure why he keeps pursuing something he doesn’t want.

“You think you can just decide what I want?!” he asks angrily.

“Star, please,” Skyfire says, pleading him with his optics to just drop the act. Why is he still pretending?

“Don’t you dare _‘Star, please’_ me!” Starscream pokes a sharp digit against Skyfire’s chassis. A thin line of white paint peels off as the tip of the digit flicks across the surface. Both of them ignore it. “If you don’t want this then you should said so _before_ dragging me into your fragging berth!”

“I do!” Skyfire hurries to reassure him even though he’s confused, grabbing Starscream’s servo and holding it against his plating. If only Starscream could _feel_ how much Skyfire missed having him close like this, how desperately he wants it. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be, but I won’t continue this when it’s so obvious that _you_ aren’t into it.”

Starscream pulls back, optics narrowing. “What is _that_ supposed to mean?”

“You’re quiet, Star,” Skyfire tells him, willing him to understand. When Starscream just stares at him without responding, he adds, “You’re never quiet.”

Starscream flinches like he’s been struck, quickly looking away. He pulls his servo out from under Skyfire’s and crosses his arms over his cockpit.

“It has been _millions of years_ , Skyfire!” he says defensively. “Things change.”

Skyfire stays quiet, not sure what to say. He _knows_ things change. That they _did_ change, but… this? Starscream’s passion, his fire? He has a hard time seeing how that could have changed so drastically. Or… did Skyfire misinterpret? Is there a change he hasn’t seen yet? That he doesn’t understand?

“What?” Starscream snaps at him, smoldering optics once again glaring holes into Skyfire’s frame. “You obviously have something to say, so spit it out!”

“I just…” Skyfire says quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re _sorry?_ ” Starscream repeats.

“For whatever happened to you,” Skyfire elaborates. He reaches out slowly, stroking a thumb over the smooth surface of Starscream’s thigh. He can feel the wear and tear of his frame under the pristine paint job, tiny scrapes in the metal that are all signs of the terrible things the seeker lived through while Skyfire remained blissfully oblivious and protected in the ice.

Starscream lets him explore his plating, optics tracking the path Skyfire’s big digits trace over his thigh. After a minute or two in thoughtful silence, Skyfire feels a bit of the tension seep out of the seeker.

“I gave up,” Starscream says suddenly. “On you. About a millennia after losing you.”

Skyfire’s digits stop their caress for just a moment as he absorbs the meaning behind that statement. He nods and continues the soft strokes, keeping his optics on the blankets that pool under Starscream’s knees.

Starscream looks so small in Skyfire’s berth but even smaller under his servo. His thigh is dwarfed under Skyfire’s palm. Skyfire could so easily hurt him and yet somehow, here Starscream is, trusting him not to.

“Obviously I looked for you, but there was only so much I could do. When I was forced to return to Cybertron, no one would fund another expedition to go find you.” Starscream growls, optics glancing out a nearby window. “Said you were as good as gone and it was a waste of shanix. They didn’t want to _waste the fuel._ ” He spits out the words like they taste foul, his whole face contorted by an angry grimace.

“It’s okay,” Skyfire tells him. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Starscream snorts.

“It wasn’t,” Skyfire insists, squeezing Starscream’s knee a little. “I insisted on going to the planet without doing proper reconnaissance first. We would have noticed the storm was too powerful if I had let you run your scans but I was just too…”

He never said it before because he assumed it was obvious that he didn’t blame Starscream for the fate that befell him. Now he thinks that maybe a lot of the tension between them could have been solved earlier if only he had made sure Starscream knew.

“You got too excited by the prospect of observing life being created,” Starscream finishes his thought for him. “I told you, one day that obsession with organics would get you in trouble!”

“You were right,” Skyfire says, agreeing easily. “As you often are.”

Starscream huffs at him, giving a sharp nod. He still refuses to meet Skyfire’s gaze.

After another minute, he sighs. “I joined the Decepticons to end that tyranny that refused to help me find you and who dirtied my name so I could never work as a scientist again,” Starscream then says out of the blue. “They tried to wipe your death off on me and have me incarcerated! I had to protect myself and Megatron promised us freedom and the power to _fight back_.”

“I understand, Starscre-“

“You understand _nothing,_ ” Starscream cuts him off, blazing optics snapping to glare at Skyfire again. “You have no idea what it was like having to return to Cybertron without you, only to watch our universe fall apart at the seams. Things _changed_ so quickly and you were _gone,_ Skyfire! I was alone! I had _no one_ and I was _lonely_ and _hunted_ and- and you can’t _possibly_ think that I wouldn’t have-“

Skyfire cuts him off, recognizing the sound of the panicked rant that’s building by leaning in to press a soft kiss to Starscream’s mouth. Despite being flustered and angry, Starscream kisses him back immediately like he can’t stop himself from grabbing the opportunity now that it’s there, his arms unfolding just so he can grab on to Skyfire and keep him close. Skyfire tries to keep the touch of his lips as light as possible but Starscream wants none of it. He charges in and locks their lips together, claws hooked into Skyfire’s vents to drag him closer. He presses their frames together hard and pushes into the kiss with force, like he’s staking a claim.

Skyfire finds that he doesn’t mind. Not at all.

The scowl that greets him when they pull apart again is adorable. It makes him want to kiss him again.

“It’s okay, Star,” he reminds gently, cradling Starscream’s face in one servo. He gives him a sad smile.

“Of course it’s okay!” Starscream snaps at him. “I wasn’t going to stay celibate all that time!”

“I was dead,” Skyfire agrees, even though it pains him to think of Starscream with anyone else. Someone else stroking his cheek and kissing the angry, thin line of his lips when he was unhappy with something. Someone else bringing him pleasure and whispering sweet words in his audials.

Skyfire hates it, but he’s not selfish enough to think that Starscream would have never sought relief or happiness with anyone else, not when he thought Skyfire was long gone. Besides, they had never agreed to be exclusive. Skyfire hadn’t wanted anyone else since he’d let himself fall in love with the seeker, but Starscream had always been a free spirit and Skyfire had never wanted to cage him. Not even if it meant never knowing what it felt like to be loved back.

“And we were hardly exclusive,” Skyfire continues as the words pass through his processor. “I won’t-“ He cuts himself off with a shake of his helm. Not the right wording. “ _You_ have nothing to apologize for.”

“What do you mean ‘ _we weren’t exclusive’?!”_ Starscream snaps at him, arms unfolding.

Skyfire’s optics spiral wide open in shock. “We were?” he asks.

“Of course we were! Did your processor get completely fried in the ice?!” Starscream asks, claws curling into fists against Skyfire’s chassis. “You think I would have waited a _millennium_ if we weren’t?”

“I… honestly never thought you did,” Skyfire admits.

Starscream tsks at him, shaking his helm in disappointment. “You’re as thick-helmed as you always were, I see,” he says, although he sounds a lot calmer already. “I swear if that’s why you interrupted what was shaping up to be the best interface I’ve had in centuries, I’ll scratch out your optics!”

Skyfire shakes his helm to reassure him. “No, I told you why already,” he says.

“Really? Do you _really_ think I’d follow you home and let you behind my panel if I _didn’t_ want you?” Starscream asks, optical ridge lifted.

“I’m- I just… you used to be so vocal,” Skyfire tries to explain himself, feeling like an idiot when the words clump together in his processor and come out all jumbled. “You- you used to make so much noise and when you didn’t, I just… How was I supposed to interpret that?”

He fidgets under the steady, unimpressed glare of the seeker, thoroughly embarrassed by his misinterpretation but he doesn’t say anything else. There’s nothing more to say, really.

“You thought I didn’t want it,” Starscream remembers, busy trying to interpret Skyfire’s silence. “Didn’t want _you_. You thought you had somehow forced me to be here.”

Skyfire nods shyly. Hearing it spoken out loud like that Skyfire just feels even dumber, but deep in his spark he knows he would have done the same thing even if he could have changed it. Any doubt and he would have stopped.

“I… I don’t ever want to hurt you, Starscream,” Skyfire admits, lifting a servo to his own chassis. “The thought alone has my spark twisting inside me. I want to bring you happiness and fill your life with wonder. Not… become just another one of your nightmares.”

Shock at the admission ripples over Starscream’s wings. They lift high, flicking a blanket they’d been resting against over the edge of the berth. Skyfire doesn’t know whether to look at the poor blanket lying sadly on the floor, or the blank expression that takes over Starscream’s features. He’s a little unnerved with the quiet reaction. It’s so unlike the seeker he once knew, so unlike _Starscream_ but he reminds himself that _things change._ War changes people.

But then suddenly Starscream smiles at him. It’s not the cruel one he seems to have made his signature in the many centuries they’ve been apart, the one that darkens his face with dangerous shadows and shows off every single one of his sharp fangs. No, it’s the secret one Skyfire remembers from their early Academy days: soft, shy, and fragile. A smile that barely tilts the corners of his mouth upwards but fills his optics with light. It makes him seem so much younger than he is and Skyfire is mesmerized at the sight.

“You complete and utter fool,” Starscream curses at him fondly. A thumb strokes softly over the curve of Skyfire’s cheek, pulling at his face so their optics can meet and Skyfire shamelessly leans into the touch, so starved for any connection to Starscream that that simple gesture has his poor spark hammering against its casing.

”You couldn’t hurt me even if you tried,” Starscream promises like it’s an undeniable truth. He holds Skyfire’s gaze steadily, as convinced about the truth of his declaration now as he was when they were just young students.

Skyfire can’t stop himself from leaning forward. He has to taste those kiss-swollen lips, has to feel the sweet little smile pressed against his mouth and feel the way Starscream’s digits twitch against his cheek in surprise before tightening their grip like they’re trying to keep him close.

Starscream has nothing to fear, though. There’s nothing that can convince Skyfire to walk away now that he knows Starscream can still look at him like this and believe with all his spark that Skyfire will never hurt him.

“I want this,” Starscream whispers the promise against Skyfire’s lips when they part for air. “I never thought I’d have you like this again and yet here you are. You’re exactly the same.” He caresses Skyfire’s cheeks, optics searching his face like they’re trying to commit every detail of him to his long-term memory.

“Not a single thing about you has changed,” Starscream says, much quieter. Like he doesn’t believe it. “You’re still perfect.”

“Do you hate it?” Skyfire asks, matching the seeker’s quiet tone. Skyfire aches to pull Starscream into his lap and hold him close forever, but he holds himself back. He doesn’t want to misinterpret this. This time he has to be sure. 

Starscream tilts his helm, optics roaming again like he’s considering his answer.

“No,” he ends up saying. “I don’t think I do.”

He shutters his optics, tender emotion bleeding into his expression before he leans in to kiss Skyfire again. The kiss is much softer this time. Starscream clutches at the side of Skyfire’s helm and stretches so he can deepen the kiss, lips and glossa urging Skyfire to open up to him.

Skyfire lets him in, face flushing hotly at the quiet rumbling moan his vocalizer emits a moment later. Starscream still tastes the way he used to and it’s an intoxicating thing. The taste is so familiar it leaves a soft ache in his spark, a longing for the home they all lost long ago.

“Andara crystals,” Skyfire murmurs as the memory of them rises in his processor, causing Starscream to pull back.

“What?” he asks.

“You still taste like the monatomic iridium andara crystals you used to love,” Skyfire explains. “Remember? You used to say they tasted like-“

“Raw power,” Starscream cuts him off, finishing Skyfire’s thought perfectly. He looks shocked.

“That’s why you ate them, even after your medic told you they weren’t good for flight frames,” Skyfire continues, memories playing before his inner optic. “He said it was empty energy and would rot your tanks but you loved the weird sweetness they had. Said they were ‘tangy’.”

Starscream pulls back a little more. “Yes. I remember,” he says. “I’m… surprised you do.”

Skyfire just smiles at him sadly. “It’s only been a few years for me,” he reminds him gently.

The reminder seems to throw Starscream into his own thoughts, and Skyfire lets him have a quiet moment to process them. He knows there’s not many of those for Starscream anymore and he doesn’t want to be just another burden on the seeker’s busy timetable. He doesn’t want to be just another resource he has to manage. What Skyfire wants most of all is to be useful to him, be something that makes his life easier, even if it’s only by letting him have a few moments to think in peace and quiet every now and again.

Skyfire vents a long, tired sigh and tries to will his spark to stop throbbing so hard.

Luckily, Starscream comes to his rescue by interrupting that line of thought. “Do you still-“ Starscream cuts himself off at first, but then shakes his helm at himself and seemingly forces himself to continue. “Do you still love me like you once did?”

“Yes,” Skyfire answers immediately.

“Even after I-“

“I tried not loving you,” Skyfire says just to stop him from saying it out loud. None of them need to hear those words again. “I tried so hard after... everything.”

“But you couldn’t stop,” Starscream says with a bitter edge to his voice. “Even after I shot you.”

Skyfire doesn’t know what to say. The words he hadn’t wanted to be spoken hurt just like they’ve done every time he’s thought them since it happened. The weld hiding under his outer armor still aches when he remembers.

They haven’t talked about it, not at length. Not properly like they should have. Peace has not been easy and their reunion has been slower to come than most others’. Even their faction leaders had buried old grudges and found a way to coexist peacefully before Starscream and Skyfire could look at each other. It was near impossible for them to do without the heavy weight of four million years of separation, war and mistakes widening the gap between them. Honestly, Skyfire can’t even explain how they’ve ended up here tonight.

“You do that often now,” Starscream suddenly says, ripping Skyfire from his thoughts. He’s smiling softly when Skyfire refocuses on his face.

“What do I do?” he asks.

“Stare into space. Obsess over pointless things,” Starscream answers. A single elegant blue claw moves in front of Skyfire’s face and he watches while Starscream carefully pushes its harmless pad against a tense spot between Skyfire’s optical ridges.

Skyfire is frowning, apparently. He wonders if he should apologize for it, but then discards that line of processing. Starscream would hate it if he did.

“There, that,” Starscream tells him. “That is new. What is so important you have to dive deep into your processor when I’m sitting _right_ _here_?” He arches an optical ridge in question and gestures to himself. Skyfire thinks that it is a really good question. Why _is_ he falling into his own processor when Starscream is right in front of him? He can worry when he’s alone again.

Skyfire’s optics flick down, only to shoot right back up to Starscream’s face a split-second later, his cheeks exploding with heat. Starscream apparently saw no reason to cover himself up while they talked and Skyfire got a good look at his valve, still shiny with oral lubricant.

“You didn’t tell me what happened,” Skyfire says quickly, hoping to hide how flustered and hot the sight has made him.

“What happened?” Starscream asks.

“What happened to make you quiet,” Skyfire elaborates. Starscream rolls his optics at him.

“I want you,” Starscream says with a hard edge to his voice that tells Skyfire he’s secretly annoyed at being forced to talk about it again. “I don’t have to make noise for that to be true. Why isn’t me saying that enough? You trust me.”

“I do,” Skyfire responds immediately, eager to chase away that little uptick to Starscream’s voice that make those few last words sound like a question. “Of course I trust you.”

Starscream looks away. He sees the blanket on the floor and bends to drag it back up onto the berth. He ends up bunching it up in his lap instead of discarding it on the berth.

“It would be understandable if you didn’t,” he says bitterly, claws picking at loose threads in the material.

“But I do,” Skyfire repeats slowly. He gently coaxes Starscream’s servos away from the blanket and gives one a squeeze. “I just… I have trouble understanding a lot of what has happened while I was… gone. I- I don’t know a lot of things. About the state of the universe, about our people, about the war, about what happened to make everything to… different. And little about what happened to you specifically.” He pauses to sigh and feels his wings dip. “I just can’t help but wonder why something like that would change for you? Your voice is so amazing. Why would you ever hide that?”

Starscream glances at him over his shoulder. “Things change. _I changed_.”

“I know you did. I’m not saying I don’t, but it’s just…” Skyfire sighs again, not sure how to phrase it without sounding like he’s demanding Starscream to become someone he isn’t anymore.

He lets his optics roam Starscream’s face, noting all the ways he’s different and the few ways he’s not. So much has changed. How is Skyfire ever going to catch up? Will he ever get the chance to or is it just too late? Is he too late?

“Hard,” he finishes weakly.

“Something else could be hard and aching right now but it’s so typical _you_ to want to talk instead,” Starscream says lightly, one corner of his mouth tilting upwards.

Skyfire attempts a half-afted smile and squeezes Starscream’s captured servo again. He doesn’t quite want to let the seeker get away with the attempt at changing the subject, but he knows it won’t be long before he’s forced to, or risk losing his company for the night all together. Starscream was never someone with a lot of patience for serious talks.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he says because he wants to make sure Starscream understand that at least.

“And it seems like I am,” Starscream points out. Skyfire doesn’t miss that little purr rising from him, nor the way his optic shutters lower a little. He leans forward and crawls across the berth, wings spread wide and held high on his back. He kisses Skyfire once, lingering.

“Come here,” he asks, curling a digit in a ‘come hither’ gesture before he pulls a servo off Skyfire’s lap.

Skyfire lets the seeker guide him onto the berth where he willingly lies down against the little mound of pillows at the headboard. Starscream settles himself on top of him, straddling his hips, his legs spread wide over them. He peers down at Skyfire lying beneath him with that smile Skyfire loves and places a single servo on the cool surface of Skyfire’s cockpit to keep himself steady. Starscream draws his hips in a slow circle, grinding their arrays together in a very tempting way. Skyfire feels his own venting deepen once more at the sparks of pleasure the movement causes.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs at the seeker. One of his servos slip up over Starscream’s front, over the smooth glass of his cockpit and over the sensitive edges of his turbine air intakes.

“And you are still brooding,” Starscream tells him. “Turn off that big processor of yours for once and enjoy this.”

“I’m trying,” Skyfire says. “I just…” He can’t shake the feeling that this is a stolen moment, one he doesn’t deserve. He still doesn’t understand why Starscream is so different. Skyfire can’t read him as easily as he once could and it makes him doubt.

“Argh, fine! If you absolutely must know!” Starscream suddenly exclaims, startling Skyfire. He stills the circling, teasing movements of his hips and throws his servos up.

“I was made aware of certain… qualities of my voice by someone I unfortunately invited into my berth,” Starscream explains. His face darkens with a blush. “He told everyone in the army that I screeched like a cheap pleasurebot when he spiked me. I spent the last two million years of war being called ‘Screamer’ by everyone, including the Autobots, although I doubt they understand the origins of that awful nickname. So, I took care to make everyone think it was _just_ a rumor and stopped making noise when someone fragged me. It became a habit! It's really as simple as that.”

“What?!” Skyfire exclaims, suddenly angry. He sits up in a rush, arms coming around Starscream’s frame to keep him from tumbling off his lap. “Who would do that?”

“Some seeker who got an inflated ego after berthing their Air Commander,” Starscream says, waving a servo in the air like it doesn’t matter. “He isn’t a problem anymore. He _unfortunately_ perished on the battlefield not long after.”

Skyfire just looks at him.

“ _No_ , I didn’t _kill him_!” Starscream shrieks to defend himself, smacking Skyfire on the side of the helm. The hit is soft and doesn’t even hurt, even if the metallic clang is a bit loud in the otherwise quiet berthroom.

“I didn’t say you did,” Skyfire points out.

“Your _face_ did!”

“Starscream,” Skyfire just says, exventing heavily before giving the seeker a smile. He’s adorable when he gets upset and Skyfire can’t resist him. He lifts the servo he’s holding to his mouth to kiss it.

Starscream is quiet for a few moments while Skyfire continues to kiss all over the back of his servo and up his wrist, his digits twitching lightly at the contact.

“He didn’t deserve you,” Skyfire says. 

Now that he knows the truth, Skyfire’s desire starts burning brightly again. He wants to shower Starscream in all the affection he rightfully deserves, wants to cover him in kisses and wring the most wonderful sounds from his vocalizer. He wants to show him that no bit-brained seeker should ever have the power to reduce a powerful spark like Starscream to a quiet, shy mech.

Skyfire should be the only mech in the universe that can steal Starscream’s voice, and _he_ will do it by giving the seeker more pleasure than he can handle.

“He didn’t deserve you at all,” he near-growls before he kisses Starscream, feeling almost desperate to prove to him that the words of some worthless brat hold no truth.

“I like it when you get all growly at me,” Starscream purrs at him suggestively. “You know… that mouth of yours could be put to better use that cursing a long-lost spark.”

Skyfire looks up. “Is that so?” he asks in between kisses.

“Just kiss me! _Properly,_ ” Starscream demands. “You started something before and you better finish it! I am not going to recharge with all this charge in my frame.”

“Yes sir,” Skyfire says teasingly in response to the sudden annoyed tone. He captures Starscream’s face between two servos. For a moment he just lets himself _look_ and it makes Starscream huff.

Always so impatient.

He presses closer and fits their lips together. The hunger in him grows slowly but this time he lets himself linger, lets the gentle hum of Starscream’s frame under his servos and the intoxicating scent of him be enough to fuel his desire for now. He wants to take his time to pick the seeker apart at the seams and make him sing, but he knows it might be a long, hard battle before Starscream is able to get past countless centuries of holding himself back.

Starscream invites him in, arms wrapping around Skyfire’s bulk and clawed digits digging in between his thick plating. They skim past sensitive wires and mesh, teasing along seams that have him groaning as desire sparks through his circuits. This, Skyfire thinks, is what he wanted. To be sure that Starscream wants Skyfire as much as Skyfire wants him, to _feel_ it in the way his touches shake with delight at getting to touch him back. It makes their kisses so much better, makes the seeker’s lips feel like they’re burning against Skyfire’s.

“You’re beautiful,” Skyfire repeats during a short break for air, causing the seeker to huff at him again.

“More kissing,” Starscream says in between kisses. “Talking later.” Skyfire nods. He can definitely do that.

He brushes a gentle servo across Starscream’s back and teases along his wing seams, careful of the new well-armored gabs that hide all the vulnerable, sensitive circuitry. Starscream’s venting hitches and Skyfire watches his face intensely, trying to read his reaction. He feels so out of his element with something that should be so natural to him, something he has done hundreds of times before. Starscream remains quiet though, optics closed and dark. He bites his bottom lip and tilts his helm back to allow Skyfire to kiss down his neck, but it’s a far cry from how wonderfully responsive Skyfire remembers him to be.

“Star…” he whispers against his cheek as he kisses his way upwards again, teasing the edge of an audial with the tip of his glossa. He just can’t help himself. Skyfire has to try. “Please don’t hide from me. I want to hear you. You’re safe here with me, I promise.”

He can feel Starscream hesitate but Skyfire keeps up the gentle press of light kisses travelling over his frame while he thinks, not willing to part now that he has proof Starscream really wants this. He slips his digits over every sensitive spot he has managed to find on the seeker’s new frame and enjoys the subtle charge arcing between them in bright bursts of pleasure.

The noises are careful at first, barely audible. Starscream breathes a little heavier and lets out the smallest of whines when Skyfire hits a good spot. It is awful and wonderful and Skyfire aches with the knowledge that someone, _someone_ made his beautiful seeker so self-conscious and ashamed of his wonderful voice that he’d rather limit himself and his pleasure instead of making it known.

If he wasn’t already dead, Skyfire might have considered having very serious words with him about shaming your interfacing partners for something as magical as hearing them express their love for the pleasure you’re giving them.

“Sky…” Starscream breathes his name inside a quiet moan, rolling his hips. “Please, _please_ just get on with it before I spontaneously combust!”

Skyfire grins at the impatience but lowers himself to lie down on the berth again at the command, more than ready himself to get back to what he had abandoned.

“Climb up, then,” he tells the seeker, patting his aft gently to encourage him to move. “Take what you need.”

Starscream’s mouth opens in awed surprise. “Really?” he asks, voice so full of careful want. “You want that?”

“I _really_ do,” Skyfire confirms with a wide smile.

He pushes at Starscream’s hips and nudges him again, helping him along as he slowly crawls up over Skyfire’s chassis to settle himself near his face. Starscream is obviously unsure and Skyfire once again sends a hateful thought towards whoever made Starscream this self-conscious. This used to be one of their favorite things to do: Starscream perched on his face and Skyfire eagerly pleasuring him with his mouth.

“Don’t be scared,” he tells Starscream, stroking over his thighs. He puts just a little pressure on them to get Starscream to lower himself so Skyfire can reach.

“I’m not scared!” Starscream snaps.

“Good,” he responds, smiling. He kisses both thighs and then holds Starscream’s gaze as he licks a long line over the seam between the thigh and his array. “Because I’ve been thinking about having you like this again ever since I saw you single-handedly take down the Aerialbot team.”

Starscream huffs, but his cheeks glow brightly, showing just how much Skyfire’s words affect him. “You and your strength fetish,” Starscream curses at him quietly.

Skyfire just shrugs in response, which has the added benefit of nudging Starscream further up so he’s sitting comfortably on the top of Skyfire’s chassis.

“I never hid the fact that I find your strength incredibly arousing,” he says and runs his servos over Starscream’s thighs to help ease the subtle tremble he feels run through them. “I like the fact that you could easily put me on my back any time you want even though I’m so much bigger than you.”

“Idiot,” Starscream says, rolling his optics. “Any other mecha would be terrified of me after seeing me do that. Or angry. Or _both_.”

Skyfire kisses the side of one knee. “You didn’t kill them and I think you easily could have. You just chose not to.”

“Doesn’t matter if I did or not,” Starscream points out. “Other mecha would still have hated me for it. They _do_ hate me for it.”

“I guess I’m not like other mecha, then,” Skyfire says with another shrug.

“No... You aren’t,” Starscream agrees.

Clearly done with that conversation, Starscream wiggles his aft and lifts an optical ridge. “Well?” he says. He finally scoots forward enough so Skyfire can reach his array without straining his neck.

“Hold on to your[ attitude indicator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_indicator),” he says in warning, grinning wide.

This time, Skyfire doesn’t waste any time. His servos tighten over Starscream’s thighs and he uses the hold to pull him down against his mouth, giving the seeker absolutely no chance to control the pace. 

He uses the tip of his glossa and dives into it, more than eager to show Starscream that Skyfire still has what it takes to knock his world upside down. Starscream’s valve is still hot and wet when he licks past his lips and Skyfire goes straight for those special nodes he had teased earlier, digging his glossa into the valve’s opening to press against them. This time Starscream’s whole frame arches into a tight bow at the sudden onslaught of pleasure, a half-choked scream escaping him.

Skyfire looks up, spark full of pride, only to see Starscream immediately slap both his servos over his mouth, optics wide as he checks Skyfire’s reaction to the sound. He hates the fear he sees in his optics and so Skyfire stares at him openly while he very deliberately repeats the motion with his glossa to force another sound from the seeker.

Starscream’s legs tighten around his helm, his frame and hips jerking. “Please, Sky,” he pants softly behind his servos. “ _Please.”_

Skyfire grins against him before he slips his glossa between the slippery mesh again, not hesitating to give in to the pleas. He swirls his glossa around the pulsating larger nub before gently sucking it into his mouth, earning himself another cry from the seeker.

Skyfire groans with him, drunk off the taste and the sounds of his lover. Primus, he missed this.

“Spike,” Skyfire asks, barely coming up for enough air to let the word out. Starscream reacts without question and curls forward with a little curse. Skyfire gets the best view of the sleek, beautiful spike lowering towards his face, tense and dripping pre-fluids from its tip.

He lifts Starscream off his face just enough to swallow the spike down. The cry Starscream lets out, makes Skyfire’s spark stutter in its casing and makes his own spike push desperately against its panel, protesting the confinement.

Their size difference means that Starscream’s spike is barely large enough for Skyfire to feel much of a stretch in his throat, but that’s okay. He likes that he can easily swallow the entire spike in one go without having to fear the gag-sensors in his intake being triggered accidentally. He rolls his glossa against it and keeps up a constant suction, optics never staying from the seeker’s face. Skyfire wants to watch every second of his climb towards the peak of his pleasure.

Starscream spreads his thighs further apart to give him more space and Skyfire takes it eagerly. One of his larger digits starts stroking between Starscream’s wet valve lips while the seeker starts carefully rocking into Skyfire’s mouth. He coats his digit in the plentiful lubricants. Once it’s properly wet Skyfire circles it around the opening before he eases it inside, careful to go slow enough that Starscream won’t even feel a pinch of pain. Stretching him will be a challenge, but he knows Starscream will eventually want more than just this and it’s always better to start out as soon as possible so it won’t end up hurting him.

Starscream is reduced to rasping cries only a few minutes later. He’s actively fucking Skyfire’s mouth now after careful encouragement. He tilts his hips forward, sliding as far into Skyfire’s mouth he can before pulling back and riding the digits slowly stretching him wide. A string of constant pleas and soft, hungry moans falls from him now, growing in volume and intensity. It’s like music to Skyfire’s audials and he has trouble keeping his own panels closed after so long listening to it.

“Sky, Sky _please_ ,” Starscream begs, his arms shaking with the effort of keeping himself in the right position to keep thrusting into the warm mouth that engulfs his spike. Skyfire eases a third digit inside him, careful to not push too hard against the tightness he still feels. Starscream’s calipers are slow to soften, the charge his digits generate simply not enough to do it faster than this. Some part of him enjoys that they are forced to take their time, while another wishes he could just hurry it up so he can see that blissful expression on Starscream’s face when he sinks down on him.

“Ah, frag, so close Sky,” Starscream pants. Skyfire can feel his hips stuttering and he eagerly doubles his efforts. He tightens his hold on Starscream’s hip and helps him move against his face, digits pressed into the cluster of nodes in his valve that has him seeing stars.

Starscream cries out and his whole frame goes rigid when Skyfire swallows around him. The next few thrusts are messy and uncoordinated but Skyfire keeps stimulating him through the overload, eagerly taking everything he has to give. His digits twist and slip deeper as the valve cycles down around them, the mess of lubricants easing their way.

When Starscream deflates Skyfire is quick to slip his arms behind his back to steady him.

It takes a little maneuvering, but Skyfire lets Starscream’s spent spike slip from his mouth so he can turn them around on their sides. It slips back into its housing quickly.

The seeker moans weakly as he’s eased down into the pillows and gets a blanket dragged over his frame. He watches with heavy, heated optics as Skyfire settles himself by his side, pressing them together.

Starscream turns to face Skyfire, keeping his wings out of the way so they don’t get pinched. He throws a leg over Skyfire’s hips and digs his thruster into his aft, trying to get closer. A small, blue servo starts rubbing against his array and it has Skyfire’s own ventilation system hitching, his fans spinning in a near growl at all the heat that simple touch suddenly produces.

“Open up for me,” Starscream whispers against his vents, his hot breath tickling the sensitive sensors beyond them.

“Star…” Skyfire moans, pressing his mouth against Starscream’s forehelm in an attempt to withstand the heavy, arousing pressure against his panel. “You’re not ready yet.”

“Your spike can stretch me the rest of the way just fine,” Starscream mumbles. He kisses Skyfire’s neck cables messily, sharp fangs pricking the sensitive tubing. “I want to feel you slip in, bit by bit. Want to be split so wide by your spike so I can’t walk straight tomorrow.”

“Primus Star,” Skyfire curses. His entire frame starts shaking, too many images popping into his processor at the filthy words coming out of the seeker’s mouth. “I’d hurt you doing that.”

“Oh Skyfire,” Starscream chuckles. He tilts his helm back so he can press a dirty, hard kiss to Skyfire’s mouth, licking the taste of himself right off Skyfire's glossa. When he pulls back again, his grin is far too wide.

“You’re not the biggest mech I’ve taken anymore,” he mock-whispers against Skyfire’s lips, causing Skyfire’s processor to blue screen at the implication.

“Wha- what?” he says dumbly, struggling to catch up when there’s still an insistent servo trying to get behind his panel.

Starscream just smirks. He pushes himself back so he can swing himself over, forcing Skyfire to roll over on his back again. He grinds their hips together and bends low over Skyfire’s chassis to kiss the empty space where the Autobot brand used to sit. The red glow of his optics paint the surface.

“Open up,” Starscream asks again. Skyfire’s panels snap back at the command instantly. Starscream laughs and starts grinding his wet valve against the spike that starts to pressurize under him.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, right?” he asks.

Skyfire grabs his hips before Starscream can angle himself properly over his spike, spark stuttering nervously inside him. “Don’t hurt yourself,” he begs.

Starscream tsks at him. “That is the _last_ thing I’d do,” he responds. “I have another command meeting scheduled all day tomorrow and there’s no way I’m sitting through that torture with a torn valve.” He grinds against Skyfire’s spike again, his valve lips spread wide around it. Starscream grins in triumph when it causes Skyfire to stutter out a weak plea.

“I know what I’m doing,” Starscream says as he leans forward to peck a quick kiss to Skyfire’s lips. “Trust me.”

When he sits back Skyfire realizes he wasn’t just leaning forward to kiss him: he was positioning himself. The tip of his spike slips past the first ring of calipers that Skyfire dutifully stretched and Starscream barely hesitates before he’s sinking down.

Mouth popped open in a quiet moan and with optics shuttered, Starscream slowly works himself down on Skyfire’s spike with careful little wiggles. Skyfire’s overwhelmed on two fronts: the physical sensation of a tight, hot valve wrapping around him and the sight of his beloved seeker so lost in his determined search for pleasure, fucking himself down on the massive spike as if it was a matter of life or death. He’s so quietly intense and Skyfire _loves him_ so fiercely in that moment his vents hitch and his whole frame shakes with the effort to keep himself together.

Eventually there’s just no more room for his spike to fill and Starscream stops, hovering a good servo’s width away from Skyfire’s hips. He has managed to take half the spike and Skyfire stares at the point of their connection in awe. There's the slightest little bulge in his armor around his belly and knowing it's _his spike_ that made it is almost enough to short Skyfire's processor.

Then Starscream’s optics repower, a victorious grin lighting up on his face. Before Skyfire can say anything about taking a moment to let himself adjust, Starscream’s digits curl into the edges of his chassis armor and he starts to move.

Thankfully, he’s careful. Starscream moves slowly, like he’s enjoying the feeling of how agonizingly slow Skyfire slips out of him, before dropping back down and feeling himself being impaled once again. Again and again he repeats the careful movements until their arrays are drenched in their mixed lubricants and Skyfire is moving effortlessly inside him. Their fans roar load enough to be distracting but none of them slow down, too desperate chasing the pleasure sparking like wildfires between them now.

When he starts to move faster, Skyfire thinks he might be losing his mind. The slow, slick slide of his spike inside that tight channel, of Starscream’s calipers clinging to him and squeezing tightly every time he draws back, as if they don’t want him to leave is intoxicating in all the best ways. His servos have permanently wrapped themselves around Starscream’s hips, moving with him to lend their strength. Starscream is relentless and he has Skyfire reaching the deepest parts of him every time, the tip of his spike nudging the cluster of nodes that makes the seeker sob with pleasure. Skyfire tracks it all with optics stuck to his abdomen, watching that little bulge vanish and reappear, unable to tear himself away from the sight for anything but the expression of pure bliss that takes over Starscream's face.

They move together in an almost effortless dance. Now that they’ve started and Skyfire has yet to see even the slightest hint of pain cross Starscream’s face, he can finally let himself relax and enjoy the slow, wonderful torture. Being together like this feels as easy as soaring through the blue skies of this alien planet together would, twirling and laughing. He missed it so much. Not just because it feels incredible to be inside Starscream, but also because of the way he moves with absolute control, taking and giving pleasure, every move calculated and precise. The way he glances down and smiles that soft smile when he sees Skyfire’s love drunk optics stare right back in awe, the way Starscream’s own betray the love for Skyfire he’d never admit to out loud if asked.

Skyfire releases one hip to stroke over the perky wings fluttering above them. He can reach every part of Starscream like this, but he just can’t get enough. He can run his servos over his shiny cockpit and down his sleek chassis and rest them against the subtle curve of those sinful hips, feeling every twitch and shudder running through his lover as Starscream drives himself onto him over and over, and it still doesn’t feel like _enough_.

When the waves of their charge finally crest, Skyfire holds himself on the edge to watch his lover crash over it. Starscream’s frame goes rigid, his optics sparking brightly. Skyfire’s venting halts as time seems to stop, Starscream frozen above him…

Then the seeker tumbles over the edge. 

The screech of his completion is loud, unhindered, and genuine, the cry of ecstasy echoing through the room. It’s shrill and a little ragged and it’s still the most beautiful sound Skyfire has ever heard. His own voice joins in on the song only moments after, frayed and staticky at the edges but he hides none of it. He clutches at the beautiful creature above him when his hips stutter and charge snaps violently between their arrays. He trembles through the overload while trying to keep up the gentle rocking of his hips, keeping himself pressed as deep as possible to stimulate Starscream’s ceiling node to prolong his pleasure. It has Starscream shrieking his way through two additional overloads while Skyfire is busy with his first and though they are smaller, they still reduce Starscream to a lump of exhausted seeker once they’ve finally passed.

Skyfire rolls them over, cradling Starscream’s unresponsive frame against his own until he can lower him carefully into the nest of blankets and pillows. Starscream’s optics flicker as they try to come back online and he groans when Skyfire slowly pulls out of him, his nose wrinkling at the feeling.

“Nnngh.” Starscream makes an unhappy noise when Skyfire pulls away from him and waves a servo to try and stop him.

“Easy,” Skyfire whispers to him. “I’m just finding something to clean you with.”

“’m fine,” Starscream mutters, voice full of static. He resets his vocalizer and a single, tired optic flicks on to glare at Skyfire. “You better come back.”

Skyfire laughs at him softly and strokes a hand over his helm. “You’re in _my_ berth,” he reminds him.

Starscream huffs. “We’ll see about that,” he mutters, though his smile is full of mischief. “I might just claim it as my own if you don’t hurry.”

“I’ll be right back,” Skyfire promises, kissing his cheek. “Besides, if I know you, you haven’t fueled today and could probably use some.”

There’s an annoyed half-growl from the seeker and he tries to bury his face in the first nearby pillow to hide the subtle glow of his cheeks. Skyfire just shakes his helm at the adorable display and slips out of the berth, fighting to not let his own wobbly legs show when he walks towards his washracks. Even before everything went wrong, Starscream had a tendency to forget fuel in favor of whatever had captured his interest for the moment. The sudden, sleepy behavior is a clear sign that he either hasn’t recharged properly in a while, or that he hasn’t fueled in a while. Most likely it’s both. With the peace treaty still underway and Starscream stuck right in the middle of it as one of the higher-ranking officers, Skyfire can’t blame him for not finding the time. He does have the time now though, and Skyfire _will_ abuse the soft, docile behavior the seeker shows after a good overload to make sure he’s well taken care off.

He cleans himself quickly first, not bothering to be more than thorough enough to not risk a rust infection before he can take a proper shower tomorrow. Afterwards he grabs washing cloths dampened by solvent and one of his own fuel rations before he returns to the berth and the seeker he left behind there.

“Took you long enough,” Starscream grumbles at him.

“Impatient little thing,” Skyfire just says fondly while he settles himself by Starscream’s hip.

Starscream lets him clean him without making a fuss which is just another sign that he really is exhausted after the interfacing. Skyfire’s careful when he swipes the mess of lubricant and transfluid off his array, because he can see that even if he wasn’t hurt, his valve is definitely feeling the aftereffects of taking someone as big as Skyfire. It’s probably no more than a mild ache, but even now his calipers are rhythmically contracting, trying to return to their normal size. It always impresses Skyfire how wide Starscream can stretch to fit him.

Once clean Starscream lets his panels close and lets Skyfire rearrange them so he’s once again sitting in his lap, cradled against his chassis. He grumbles at being forced to refuel, but the second it hits his glossa the protests die in favor of downing the ration as quickly as he can. It’s a little bigger than what Starscream gets himself, simply because Skyfire’s frame requires more than a seeker’s does, but the entire cube vanishes easily. It once more confirms Skyfire’s suspicion that Starscream hasn’t been refueling often enough and he makes a mental note for himself that he needs to start harassing the seeker about it more often now that they’re talking to each other again.

“Thanks,” Starscream mutters once he’s done, like he’s embarrassed. More likely Skyfire thinks he’s embarrassed about having someone else take care of him, probably because of some misguided idea that it makes him weak if he can’t control everything in the universe himself.

“You’re welcome,” Skyfire just says instead of voicing any of his thoughts. He kisses the side of Starscream’s helm and breathes in his familiar scent, feeling such comfort over having Starscream this close that he’s unwilling to let him go again any time soon.

“You should recharge,” he says despite that or perhaps _because_ of that intense desire. He’s not willing to compromise on the rare opportunity to take care of Starscream just to indulge his own neediness.

“ _You_ should recharge,” Starscream counters. “You’re the one flying all over this dumb dirtball of a planet to get us the building materials we need.”

“I’m sturdy, you know that,” Skyfire says.

“Hm, yes, but not more so than you benefit from recharging every night like us regular mecha, Skyfire.” Starscream gives him a half-heated glare and pokes at his chassis. “It’s been four million years but I have not forgotten how you work either, so don’t even try with me.”

Skyfire sighs all fondly and pretends to be annoyed by it. Of all the things he could say to get the post-interface cuddles he loves so much, Starscream _still_ goes for this convoluted method to achieve them. “Fine, we both recharge then. Would that be satisfactory?”

“It’ll do,” Starscream just says smugly.

They rearrange themselves in the berth again and Starscream doesn’t hesitate to slot himself right into Skyfire’s arms and press himself up against his chassis until he’s almost completely wrapped in the shuttle. He sighs the quietest little vent of contentment and shutters his optics, his frame deflating a bit as he relaxes.

“When do you need to be up tomorrow?” Skyfire asks.

“Early,” Starscream mumbles against him. “Stupid fools think early means better communication.”

“I’ll set an alarm then,” Skyfire tells him. “I have a delivery at eight anyway.”

Starscream just hums in acknowledgement and snuggles closer. Skyfire can already feel how his systems have started to cycle down, making the seeker’s frame lax and heavy in his arms.

“Will you be gone long?” Starscream asks.

“It’s a cross-planet job, yes,” Skyfire answers. “I’ll be gone a few days. The humans don’t like me sling-shotting around the planet to make the trips faster. I think the loudness of the re-entry scares them when it’s not happening in an airspace they control.”

“Idiots,” Starscream says. “Don’t know why we listen to those pathetic flesh bags. They can’t even get along with each other.”

“Neither could we until recently and our peace is barely holding as it is. And we listen to the humans because this is _their_ home, Star,” Skyfire scolds him gently. “They have the right to decide what happens with it.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Starscream responds, though his tone is significantly less hostile now. “The sooner we get this treaty over with and the materials we need collected, the better. I want to go home.”

“Me too…” Skyfire says. Primus, he does. He has liked his stay with the humans and enjoyed observing them in their confusing, wonderful chaos of a world, but Skyfire is also more than ready to return to their own planet and see just how much work they have ahead to revive it. The Prime and Megatron seem confident, but the things Skyfire has heard about the state of Cybertron worries him. What if there’s no way for them to rebuild? What if it’s too late and the last memory Skyfire has of it from the day he and Starscream left for their intergalactic exploration, is the last time he would ever see it glow with life? What if they’ll never be truly home ever again?

It scares him so much more than he knows how to deal with. He has never quite felt homesickness like this before and knowing there might not even _be_ a home to return to makes it much worse.

“You’re doing it again,” Starscream interrupts him, his voice muffled.

“What?”

“Letting that huge processor of yours overthink everything,” he answers. He looks up at Skyfire with an unhappy glare. “What’s wrong now?”

“Nothing,” he hurries to say. “Just… silly worries, I guess.”

“If you’re scared the humans will shoot you out of the sky if you want to do the sling-shot anyway, I can always assign you a trine to follow-“

“No no, that won’t be necessary,” Skyfire says quickly. “I’m not going to go against their wishes even if I wish I could get the trip over with faster.”

“Eager to get back to something?” Starscream asks smugly.

“Maybe,” Skyfire says, not at all doubting what Starscream is hinting at. He rolls his optics at the seeker’s expression and decides to just kiss if right off his face.

Starscream hums quietly into the kiss, undoubtingly pleased with himself and Skyfire just continues to pepper little kisses along his chin until he hears the wonderful, quiet little purr from his inner systems tick up a notch in response to all the affectionate attention.

“Hm, if it’s not the humans you’re worried about, then what?” Starscream asks. He runs a servo over Skyfire’s cheek and presses into the next soft kiss only for a moment before he pushes them apart again, clearly not willing to let the conversation go as Skyfire has hoped he would.

Skyfire sighs. “I haven’t seen Cybertron since we left all those years ago and I’ve heard stories, but…”

He looks up and sees Starscream watching him with quiet interest, really listening to him like he actually wants to know. It makes it a little easier for him to finish his thought, to let that little piece of fear be shared between them. “What if it’s too damaged and I’ll never see it again?”

Starscream considers the question for a moment before he answers. “I won't lie to you,” he says. “It’s really bad. Praxus, Vos, Kaon and Iacon are practically gone, erased. Everything else is rubble and rust. There are pests everywhere and no light in the core. No newsparks coming from the Wells and no quiet hum of power. It’s _bad_.”

Skyfire nods. He’s heard all that before from the other Autobots, back when they tried to catch him up on what had happened.

“But it’s not hopeless,” Starscream continues. “We have a solid plan, Skyfire. I believe we can do it.” His expression shifts a little, growing annoyed. “If only Prime and Megatron would stop arguing over nonsense things and _sign the damn treaty already_! Even Prowl and Ultra Magnus agree with me that they’re wasting time now and you know it’s a horrible situation when those two agree with _me_ on anything!”

Skyfire can’t help it, he laughs. There’s not much that escapes those private, highly classified meetings the two high command teams have, but Skyfire has no trouble imagining exactly how tedious Starscream has to find them. He’s always been someone who moved fast, jumping from project to project as fast as his processor could think up solutions to the problems he faced. If Starscream has already planned out how they will rebuild Cybertron, then Skyfire is sure waiting for their respective leaders to get past their issues must be exactly what he called it before: torture.

Starscream watches him laugh fondly, pleased little smile on his face. Once Skyfire regains control of himself, he kisses his chin and then his lips.

“Recharge,” Starscream demands, voice leaving little room for protest. It warms Skyfire in an old familiar way.

“Yes,” he just says and lets his optics power down.

“And when you come back, we’re staying at my place,” Starscream tells him sleepily. “My berth is better.”

“Okay,” Skyfire just agrees, spark surging with joy. That means Starscream wants to see him again, right? Wants to see him and recharge with him, and maybe this is that second chance Skyfire has been quietly praying for. Maybe he can try and win Starscream back? He can show him he’s still someone worthy of his love, even if the one they’ve shared until now has been traitorous. Maybe peace will let them have this, let them be happy together for once.

If there’s even the slightest chance, Skyfire will gladly take it.

He kisses the top of Starscream’s helm and sends another quiet prayer to the skies, hoping beyond hope he’s interpreting all this right. The seeker has already cycled down into recharge and barely twitches at the affection he’s given, completely at ease in Skyfire’s arms. It’s a good sign, Skyfire tells himself. He can have this, can let himself hope that this time they’ll get it right.

“Recharge well, my Star,” he whispers, before he lets himself cycle down too.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! (: 
> 
> If you got any comments or kudos to give I will gladly accept them! 
> 
> Have a fantastic day!


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